$1.25 Investment

A woman says to a security officer, "Have you seen a balding man with a red purse and a dark-haired girl?" The officer responded, "Actually, I have".

Family day to the fundraising library sale gave my mother this anecdote. We each scored several book finds for the bargain price of 25 cents each.

My additions:

1965 reprint of More's Utopia (Saint Thomas More)

1962 copy of Lanterns and Lances (James Thurber)

1938 edition of How to Organize and Conduct a Meeting (W.H. Henry & Dr. L Seeley)

1960 printing of The Compassionate Tiger (Hunton Downs)

and finally, the pièce de résistance

Cooking for One is Fun (Henry Lewis Creel) from 1979.

Happy weekend reading.

My Baby Wrote Me a Letter

There are two types of packages on the doorstep which make my list of awesomeness: shoes and books.

I was a lucky girl this week and have received one box of each. When I ordered My Faraway One, I neglected to check the weight so I underestimated the amount of arm strength necessary to pick up the brown box while carrying work bag, yoga mat, purse, new Pumas (see above), coffee mug and water bottle. At 4.4 pounds, it will test your balance.

Last night I started reading the work in no particular order. With only a few editorial updates (as apparently O'Keefe was a terrible speller), the letters I read examined the mundane, their respective arts, the locales, and that emerging affection which made this collection possible.

Have Passport. Will Travel.

A reader can move through Yoga for People Who Can't be Bothered to Do It very quickly. We do things as travelers which seem very logical at the time [negotiate the cheapest boat and captain in Bangkok] only to realize during the journey that perhaps the strategy adopted was not the best one [cheapest boat = cheapest overhead which may mean a hole or two in the vessel]. My travels essays would certainly include said Bangkok boat, an Alaskan sea captain on a Gilligan's Island Tour, and a complete chapter devoted to the Shanghai taxi. While I cannot connect with each of Dyer's anecdotes, there is certainly enough empathy to have an enjoyable read. I would not recommend moving straight through the novel in typical fashion but take a chapter or two with a pause. This also gives you the opportunity to have sufficient coffee to invoke a portion of Dyer's Parisian experience.

Won't You Write Me a Letter, Won't You Give Me a Call?

"All I want is to preserve that wonderful something which so purely exists between us."

- Alfred Stieglitz

As several of you know, I am a romantic. I am also a fan of posted mail and enjoy writing the occasional letter. As a teen, I sent bi-weekly notes to the "love" of my life and waited each day to see if I would receive a brown envelope in return. As an adult, I have had only one other experience where note writing was abundant and felt urgent and necessary.

In 31 years, Georgia O'Keefe and Alfred Stiegliz exchanged letters over 5,000 times. A total of 25,000 pages existed and a portion of these has just been released in My Faraway One, Selected Letters of Georgia O'Keefe and Alfred Stiegliz: Volume 1, 1913-1933. The above quotation was taken from one of those letters in 1918. Sarah Greenough is due credit as editor for this edition (which I will be ordering in just a few short moments in hard cover as Kindle just does not seem appropriate).

While waiting for delivery, perhaps I will make time to write a few letters and listen to the artist from whom I've taken the title, John Prine.

Bridging the Gap

Even after a year, I still need a map.

Sometimes I also need assistance to find the county lines on severe weather maps.

These are the "Bridges Near Madison County," my county.

Happy Friday, and do not take pictures while you are driving (unless they are bridges).

Upon My Honour

As a letter writer, it is important to know how to address the recipient. In times of confusion, I am happy to have Titles and Forms of Address: A Guide to Their Correct Use (1961 edition). [Add this to the list of odd little books picked up in a favorite used bookshop in Scotland.]

This book covers more items than I would ever use, such as how to address: widows of Baronets, the eldest son of a Viscount, wives of younger sons of Marquesses and Irish Chieftains. It also includes 15 pages of handy abbreviations such as "Very Revd." and "F.R.S.E." (though my British friends have never been known to be terribly brief). The section on pronunciation of proper names is also quite useful should one wonder how to handle an extra "u."

Queen for a Day

You have a few short days before the next GBC meeting to finish the book, Saving the Queen by William F. Buckley. With a high profile resignation from Scotland Yard and the arrest of Rebekah Brooks, current events should create an atmosphere worthy of discussion and intrigue. Add an unlikely finisher at The Open, Princess Kate's weight and sticky toffee pudding, and major English news items should be covered (or at least smothered).

I think I will have another cup of tea.

Have a great week.

Yoga To Know What You Want

My Saturday mornings sometimes follow this pattern:

ipod "Play", Nespresso, email, Nespresso, Hatchard's, Guardian, random lists of books, [aha!], various book reviews, Amazon.

Today's download for later reading:

Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It by Geoff Dyer

I'm a sucker for a good title.

Choose Your Own Adventure

Leaving your refrigerator door open is not an effective method to cool your home. Trust me on this one. With the hot summer days well upon us, we are all looking for ways to stay cool. I offer the following:

You arrive home, exhausted from work/school/family/insert other item here, and you find that you have a bottle of white reading water in the fridge. Lady Gaga streams from your ipod. You pour yourself a glass each of wine and soda water, sit down with The Man in the Gray Flannel Skirt from NPR's suggested "Laugh Yourself Cool: 5 Funny Books to Beat the Heat" when the door bell rings. [Turn to page 47.]

or

You arrive home energized and eager to expand your mind's horizons on new material. You start your favorite Bach LP on your vintage record player and relax on the chaise with a title from NPR's "Summer's Biggest, Juiciest Nonfiction Adventures." A glass of red reading water sits on the small but sufficient end table to your left. Twenty pages into Turn Right at Machu Picchu, your telephone rings. [Turn to page 38.]

In the Heat of the Night

It took 75 pages before The Heart is a Lonely Hunter hooked me. Still when I go back to the book, I have to reread a few pages prior to my starting point to re-enter the story. [Sometimes easier to step into a dress from the 40s than a novel.] Mick and Mr. Singer are quite likable characters; many of the others are not. Mick is a tomboy stirred by classical music and creeps through the night to sit under window sills to find access to symphony. Mr. Singer cannot speak nor hear and has become the person that our other characters seek out for inspiration and comfort. They make an unlikely duo in the boarding house setting.

There are other characters that I expect to be of significance, but have not yet quite discovered their contribution. Dr. Copeland provides medical access to all but cannot seem to find a way to mend the wound with his children. Biff lost his wife to religion and then twenty pages later to TB.

This book was not the best pick for a fast moving read but in these hundred degree days of summer, perhaps it does have the right pace.

Easy Like...

a run

a movie

a thunderstorm

a sunburn

a pizza

a book

in no particular order,

a weekend

Rome, if You Want To

Twins cast into water and raised by a wolf.

One dies at the hand of the other.

My first sunset in their city.

- May 2011

Berlin and a Step

Two things happened yesterday which took my breath away, and children of the 80s, it was not in the "Top Gun" sort of way. One we need not discuss (potential book material); the other involved stepping off a ledge into a 12' abyss or at least that's how I saw it through my rose-colored goggles.

Both moments were frightening. Both left me with a moment of sheer weightlessness that I hope I will one day describe as a "life lesson," "character building," "growth experience," or any of the other cheesy two word combinations which tries to mask fear and emptiness to inspire hope.

I expect that will be how I will feel.

Now, I am tuned into an appropriate playlist and finding solace in the music which accompanies The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

In 1776...

It happens the same time each year.

This tune gets stuck in my head for most of the day.

I'm a child of School House Rock.

I like fireworks.

Happy 4th!

Hope July to Be Fly

With half the year behind us, I decided to revisit my list of books to read for 2011. [For those of you who don't know me or have somehow missed my geek tendencies, by list I mean an excel sheet with pivots and graphs.] As it stands, I have tackled none of the original list but instead have drifted from book to book led by instinct, the GBC, and/or gifts from friends. This strategy has resulted in classic reads, a visit through sci-fi, books about happiness, conversations with authors, and overall a pretty satisfying half-year of books.

I hope that as you look back on the first half of 2011, you will also find it to have been a pretty neat year of reading, and if we are lucky, it will keep getting better. If you have had a favorite, let me know.